Yang Shouchen

Yang Shouchen

Yang Shouchen (1425-1489) was an official of Ming Dynasty. Word reform, No. Jingchuan, a Jin An, Zhejiang Yinxian Lishe Yang family. In the second year of Jingtai (1451), he was a Jinshi and a compiler. In the eighth year of Chenghua (1472), he compiled wenhuadachun, which changed the rule of not recording eunuch affairs and listed the gains and losses of good and evil. In the first year of Hongzhi (1488), he promoted the right servant of the Ministry of officials, revised xianzongshilu and became Vice President. Later, he begged to solve the Ministry's affairs. In the second year of Hongzhi (1489), Yang Shouchen died, posthumous title Wenyi, posthumous gift to the Minister of rites.

Life of the characters

Compiling history books

Yang Shouchen's grandfather, Yang Fan, is good at learning and conduct. He once educated Yang Shouchen with the theory of thinking and practice. In 1451, Yang Shouchen became a Jinshi and was granted the position of editor. In the first year of Chenghua (1465), he served as a lecturer in front of the imperial court and was promoted to minister. After the completion of yingzongshilu, Shou Chen was promoted to Xi Ma. Soon he was promoted to a Bachelor of science and took part in the compilation of the compendium of song and Yuan Tongjian. At the end of the period of mourning for his mother, he still took up his old official post. The prince went to school after leaving the palace, and Yang Shouchen was appointed as a lecturer in the east palace. At that time, Wen Hua Da Xun was compiled, and all the eunuchs were not paid. Yang Shouchen thinks that this is not right, he will involve eunuch's good and evil gains and losses one by one. The book was compiled successfully, and Yang Shouchen was promoted to shaozhan. When Emperor Xiaozong ascended the throne, all the officials under the crown prince were promoted. At the beginning of the reign, Yang Shouchen was proposed to be the right servant of the Ministry of officials in Nanjing, and Emperor Xiaozong crossed out "Nanjing" with his pen. It is said that Liu Xuan has become the right servant, so Xiaozong changed Liu Xuan to the left servant, and Yang Shouchen was the right servant. Yang Shouchen was appointed as the vice president of xianzongshilu.

Speak out

In the first month of the first year of Hongzhi (1488), Yang Shouchen Shangshu said, "Mencius said," I dare not state the way of Yao and Shun before the king. ". What is the way of Yao and Shun? The book of history says that "the heart of the people lies in keeping the right, the heart of the Tao lies in being subtle, sincere and single-minded, and truly carrying out the right way.". This is the reason why Yao and Shun had profound inner cultivation, and they took it as the foundation of governing the country. Yao and Shun planned political affairs with the leaders of the four princes, opened the four doors of the Ming hall, announced politics and religion, so that the four sides could see clearly and hear clearly and comprehensively. Therefore, Yao and Shun knew the external situation very well, which was the outline of governance. I used to be a subordinate official in the east palace. When I saw your majesty reading scriptures, I was not diligent in exploring the gist of sages. The Confucian officials generally explained the exegesis, but did not explain in detail the main way of the emperor's administration. Therefore, your Majesty's inner cultivation is not deep enough. What you see in the court now is only the minister's demeanor and demeanor. How to identify the situation of gentlemen and villains, officials with low rank, and officials far away? Your majesty retreated from the court only to see the memorials of the officials. How can we see the rules and regulations of various departments and the situation of officials? What the palace heard was the words of the officials. How can the correct opinions of officials and the people be heard? I'm afraid your majesty doesn't know much about the outside world. "I hope the emperor will follow the old system of his ancestors and set up the front lecturing seats for the big and small emperors twice a day. The grand imperial lecture hall and the early dynasties were still conducted according to the old ceremony. If you want to set up a small imperial front seat, you must choose the officials of duanfang Boya to speak in turn. Whatever your majesty does not understand, please make it clear. All the important points of the scriptures of sages and sages, the ruling strategies of emperors, the merits and demerits of people and officials, the gains and losses of political affairs, and the quality of people's feelings must be explained clearly before they can be implemented without any malpractice. For the classics of the former dynasty, the ancestral scriptures, the hundred official chapters should be stored in the back of the Wenhua hall for your majesty to read. One cabinet member and two lecturers are ordered to be in the wing room of the front hall every day. If your majesty has any questions, ask them. It is better to make them clear. In a day, if your majesty spends more time in Wenhua palace and less time in Qianqing palace, he will have less desire and will not be confused when dealing with political affairs. In this way, he will have profound inner cultivation and the foundation of governing the country will be established. In the Wu Dynasty, the minister took turns to be on duty. If the matter has been written in a few articles, it will be simply played face-to-face. Your majesty will make a ruling after knowing it in detail. The civil and military officials from abroad will come to Beijing to see your majesty and ask them to list the matter one by one in the memorial. They will make an oral statement to your majesty and submit it to each department in charge for comment. For those who bid farewell to your majesty and go to his post, we should give different admonitions according to the situation of their positions. In case of major events, your majesty will go to the Wenhua hall to make the ministers do their best and not avoid each other. If it is improper, it is allowed to refute. If others are presented in the form of sparse texts, the cabinet ministers are called to discuss whether they can do it or not, and then give a reply. As for the officials who play and leave the court, they must be gentle, ask questions in detail, make extensive visits, and understand the situation, so that the talents can often appear in front of them, so that your Majesty's hearing and hearing will not be influenced by the people around you, so that you can have a wide understanding of the external situation. "Another example is that in front of the emperor, he only follows the story in ordinary days. All the official chapters are handed over to the inner Minister for the emperor's approval. The minister is worried that the long-standing abuses will not change and the future problems will become more and more serious. And now there are countless problems. Officials seldom have a sense of integrity and shame. Most of the scholars are not impetuous, their education is in decline, and the criminal law is lax. Customs are extravagant, but property is even more scarce. People are poor, and thieves are increasing day by day. The walls and moats of the guards were not built, and the warehouses of the counties had little storage. The armor and weapons are rotten and rusty, and the army is empty. The generals are proud and lazy, and the soldiers are tired and weak and do not practice. How to defend in case of emergency? This is why I worry all the time, and sometimes I forget to eat and sleep. "

Life in old age

Xiaozong highly praised and accepted his opinions. As expected, the Wu Dynasty was restored and the ministers were summoned to discuss political affairs face to face. All these were mentioned by Yang Shou and Chen Shu. Soon after, Yang Shouchen asked for the dissolution of the Ministry of official affairs. Xiaozong ordered him to take up the post of Zhan Shifu and be responsible for the affairs of the historical museum. In the second year of Hongzhi (1489), Yang Shouchen died, posthumous title Wenyi, posthumous gift to the Minister of rites.

Anecdotes of characters

Yang Shouchen asked for leave to visit his relatives when he was washing horses. He went to a post station. The post Cheng didn't know what official he was. He sat down opposite him when he received him. Yi Cheng suddenly asked Yang Shou Chen, "your job is to wash horses. How many horses can you wash in a day?" Yang Shouchen replied casually, "if you are diligent, you can wash more. If you are lazy, you can wash less. There is no specific number." After a while, someone reported that a censor was about to arrive. The post official urged Yang Shouchen to give up his superior residence. Yang Shouchen said, "I'll let him go after he comes." When the censor came, because he was a student of Yang, he knelt down to greet him. The post Cheng took advantage of the fact that the censor didn't see him, so he crawled under the steps and begged for mercy. Yang Shouchen didn't care about him.

Main works

poetry

Insomnia

The guest night Geng does not have the sleep, its like the clock leaks sparse. when you enter the curtain, the frost is heavy and the moon is light. the words of the migratory insects, the cold leaves fly. It's not for no clothes that a blanket becomes a sigh forever.

spring chill

in February, Yancheng is getting warmer, and the north wind blows snow all over the building. after all, it's not too cold in spring. Why should we complain about the peach and plum trees.

Send the monk back to Wu

in the blue sky, Xinan is far away from the white clouds. I will know that the pine trees outside the gate are green and the new branches are heading east. < I > (from content sources.)

Anthology

Yang Shouchen's works include reading Yi's private notes, Sanli's private notes and textual research on the five classics. Later generations compiled Yang Wenyi's complete works in 1499.

Historical evaluation

History of the Ming Dynasty: "to keep Chen as a non official, to list the gains and losses of good and evil."

Family members

Grandfather: Yang Fan. His younger brother is Yang Shouji, who is also an official. son: Yang MaoYuan. son: Yang Maoren.

Historical records

The seventy second biography of Ming history has been handed down.

Chinese PinYin : Yang Shou Chen